Karl Lagerfeld Does Not Like French Food, but He Is a Fan of Versailles

Of all the autocrats who have called Versailles their château away from home, Chanel artistic director Karl Lagerfeld, might have the greatest adoration for the eighteenth-century estate. The fashion mogul even took self-portraits at Versailles just for us.

Of all the autocrats who have called Versailles their château away from home— the grand Louis XIV, his elegant successor, and of course Louis XVI and that wallflower Marie Antoinette—France’s current style sovereign, Chanel artistic director Karl Lagerfeld, might have the greatest adoration for the eighteenth-century estate. “I love every area,” he says. “The castle, the park, the Petit Trianon, the statues, the fountains, Marie Antoinette’s magnificent farm.” Which is why he showed his Resort 2013 collection (now in stores) here, sending models amid its hedges and fountains as fashion editors looked on. “It was a light version of a timeless, modern Versailles,” he says. “It was made for elegant playtime, both rocker and chic.” And where else could such denim tails and Victorian-style tweed dresses be worn if not in Versailles’s gilded halls? Perhaps in Lagerfeld’s favorite Parisian restaurants, the luxe **Maison du Caviar **(entrées from $137) and the futuristic Orient Extrême (entrées from $17). But the slim designer doesn’t exactly indulge in the manner of Louis XIV, who feasted daily on ham and mutton in his Versailles bedroom. “The famous French food,” Lagerfeld says, “is not for me.”

Who knew Lagerfeld was a fashion photographer along with everything else? He shot these self-portraits just for us at Versailles.